An Open Letter To My Best Friend

Dear Best Friend,

I went through something particularly difficult a couple of weeks ago and you were thousands of miles away from home, away from me. From voicemail tag to travelling in separate countries when we seem to need only each other, we’ve always had a knack for bad timing. But I reached out for you anyway, like I always do. And you were there for me, like you always are. And that got me to thinking about our friendship and all the things I have to thank you for, all the things I never say often enough, all the things I owe to you. You deserve to know all the ways in which you’ve saved my life, mended my heart, shaped my dreams.

Thank you for your unwavering support in all the decisions I’ve had to make, all the dreams I’ve wanted to pursue. I have never met anybody so unfailingly hopeful for other people’s futures. You have helped me to make choices I didn’t want to make and have remained by my side through every outcome. You have lifted me up and kept me standing tall through all my moments of shame, all the times I’ve been let down, all the times I couldn’t bear the weight of my pain and insecurities. You have celebrated every achievement and milestone with me, and sometimes even for me. You have made me feel loved, appreciated, and accomplished. You have fuelled my dreams and illuminated all of my darkened paths.

Thank you for your authenticity, your sweet sincerity. Your encouraging words and your revealing confessions move me to tears. You are perfectly childlike in your honesty and openness, in your confessions of love and expressions of pain, in your demands for your heart to be heard. I will forever admire your candor, your ability to wear your heart so bravely on your sleeve.

Thank you for your incandescent heart, your bright-eyed and eternal optimism. Thank you for believing in fairy tales, romance, true love; thank you for believing in happily ever when I didn’t have the strength to believe in it myself. Thank you for experiencing hardship and heartache and pain, and remaining unhardened and trusting anyway. Thank you for always seeing the best in people, for always seeing in the best in me.

Thank you for always being present in my life, for your faithful existence alongside me. You know better than most the contours of my heart, the weight of my guilt, the shapes of my fears. Thank you for loving me anyway.

Thank you for your unfailing enthusiasm and involvement in all of my passions, fascinations, pursuits. Thank you for reading the things I write; thank you for thinking they’re something to be proud of. Thank you for listening when I want to rave about the new TV show I just started watching or the book I just finished reading; thank you for nodding along in excitement and asking questions. Thank you for always being willing to drive around and listen to new songs I think you’d like; thank you for always having new songs that reminded you of me too. Thank you for never putting down the things I love; thank you for always sharing in my enthusiasm, for always singing and cheering and laughing just as loud as I am. You are the kind of girl who would never let another person feel foolish or alone if you can help it. I love that about you.

Thank you for your companionship and understanding in my darkest hours. Thank you for letting me bare my heart to you, for all the secrets you’ve kept, for all the flaws you’ve embraced. Thank you for stringing together words that stitch my heart back together and thank you for knowing when nothing needs to be said. Thank you for letting me be sad sometimes, for understanding that “pain demands to be felt”. Thank you for all the tears you’ve let fall and all the ones that you’ve wiped away. Thank you for always encouraging me to ugly cry if I need to. Thank you for crying with me.

Thank you for continually being one of the best people I’ve ever known, for always inspiring me to be better. Thank you for guarding my heart, but also for helping me to feel brave enough to open it. Thank you for always believing in me, for always encouraging me, for somehow always knowing what it is that I need. Thank you for sitting in silence with me when I’m at my worst and feeling alive with me when I’m at my best. Thank you for all the sun-kissed and laughter-filled days on my roof. And thank you for all the star-lit and infinite nights driving down 22x. Thank you for it all.

Gratefully and eternally yours,

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